Background of the Hospital
Methodist Children’s Hospital in San Antonio provides the highest level of health care to women and children. The hospital “is the area’s largest and most preferred healthcare system” (Leadership, 2024). According to the hospital’s website, the organization chart includes the following positions: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital, CEO of Methodist Children’s Hospital and Women’s Services, MD, Chief Nursing Officer of Methodist Children’s Hospital and Women’s Services, MSN, and Chief Financial Officer of Methodist Hospital and Methodist Children’s Hospital (Leadership, 2024). Thus, the organizational chart consists of five offices, each with its own CEO. The heads of these offices report to the hospital’s doctors, who specialize in treating children or both children and women.
Description of the Organization’s Design
The company’s design primarily attempts to use new methods with the assistance of the heads of offices. For example, Ryan Simpson, president and chief executive officer, “made noticeable strides in physician and employee satisfaction, improving physician engagement scores by 25 percentage points, placing TMCA in the 90th percentile as a place to practice medicine” (Methodist Healthcare, 2024). In general, all of them are implementing new strategies that are yielding positive results.
The division of labor extends from the CEO to their teams, and then to the rest of the employees. According to the most recent data, the hospital has 5000 to 10,000 employees, including 500 to 1000 managers and 50 to 100 members of the leadership team who report to five CEOs (Methodist Healthcare, 2024). Hospital employees work on smaller tasks, while managers aim to improve overall production by implementing new strategies.
In this way, managers aim to improve both the work of employees responsible for effectively treating patients and the treatment itself. For example, in this hospital, two CEOs work directly as physicians rather than just as managers. They have hospital experience, so they can better understand which strategies will be effective.
This hospital is departmentalized, with departments that handle financial issues, organizational matters, and direct patient care. The Span of Control appears well-organized, with only five CEOs and, despite the large number of employees, only a small number of managers, allowing the company to save significantly. Although there is no clear information on the company’s level of decentralization, it can be assumed that the CEO makes most decisions, while hospital employees have little influence. As a result, the company’s leaders wield authority.
Restructure Potential for Outcome Improvement
The company’s organization may benefit from further reductions in the number of managers. If a hospital now has around 1000 managers, it is too many, and the financial costs are high. However, if somebody reorganizes the company so that decisions are made not only by the CEO but also by top-level employees, based on their daily experience and understanding of the situation at the time rather than in the past, the company will benefit significantly. Furthermore, it would save money on salaries for managers who are unlikely to have sufficient hospital experience.
Applicability to Other Types, Sizes, Locations
If a much smaller hospital acquires this organizational structure, the number of CEOs is likely to be too high. For a hospital with few patients, located in a small city, and providing basic services, one CEO is sufficient, who will be subordinated to managers with narrower specializations, such as accounting. The structure of this hospital is not suitable for a small hospital. If the hospital has more employees, even 5 CEOs may not be sufficient; at least 6 are required. The more employees there are, the greater the need for general managers who can organize and manage them.
References
Leadership (2024). Methodist Healthcare.
Methodist Healthcare (2024). The Org.
